Abstract
Gun Curious is the fruit of 12 years of ethnographic research inside gun culture in the United States by Sociologist David Yamane, who runs the first-ever university module dedicated to the emerging field of ‘Sociology of Guns’. A sensitive topic for many, obscure for those, like me, unfamiliar with American culture, Yamane introduces his work as ‘pro-understanding’ (p. 2). He asks the questions: why guns are at the same time so popular, and so hated in the United States? What do firearms mean for the American society? It serves both as a starting point for academics and students, offering an overview of the current state of research, and an approachable introduction for non-specialised readers. While it does not aim at providing ‘immediate policy solutions to the problem of gun violence’ (p. 4), Yamane intends his work to be a model ‘for engaging in civil conversations’ (p. 169).
Summoning various disciplinary perspectives from sociology to history or palaeoanthropology, Gun Curious examines how, from a tool used for defence and subsistence, projectile weapons and firearms have gained a casual, social dimension such as in family ‘fun days’ or rites of passage for young boys. The book’s premise is that firearms are a standard feature of American culture: on one hand, guns and gun ownership in the USA are ‘common, widespread and typical’ (p. 1); on the other, they are not inherently associated with deviance and abnormalities: ‘guns are normal and normal people use guns’ (p. 1). Firearms are here ambivalent cultural artefacts: at the same time ‘attractive and repulsive’, ‘dangerous and protective’, ‘useful and useless’ (p. 153), once shunned and mocked after the Vietnam War, now symbols of freedom, masculinity, strength and patriotism after the War on Terror.
One of the strengths of the book resides in its auto-ethnographic approach in a field with limited quantitative and little-to-no qualitative data. The author, a fourth-generation American of Japanese descent and working-class roots, defining himself as a ‘card-carrying liberal’ and initially gun-adverse, came through personal circumstances to navigate the complex world of American gun owners as a critical insider, analysing the various cultural and social dynamics he has encountered. The qualitative research is built upon participant observation and conversations at various events from conferences to informal range days and attending over 500 hours of training courses across the country. These experiences, coupled with data stemming from previous research and the critical examination of statistics (and how the latter are interpreted in public discussions), allow readers to grasp both the micro- and macro-sociological implications of the phenomenon.
Exploring the relationship between firearms and the media, political parties, advocacy groups and the general public from a social and cultural angle, Gun Curious brings a fresh perspective to a literary corpus that has mainly examined gun ownership from the perspective of political power, history, criminology and epidemiology. Yamane analyses how the narratives around topics such as weapons bans, civilian training, mass shootings, self-defence and more, echo earlier conversations in history around other regulated items now seen as staples of American life such as alcohol – which was once successfully prohibited. Yamane’s project also bears an action-research dimension: his findings are informed by his students’ feedback, as they are exposed to the various sides of the debate.
Gun Curious offers a text accessible to non-specialist audiences, with little (but concisely explained) technical terms, favouring endnotes to in-text references, with no explicit mention of sociological concepts or theories, which are left for the reader to explore through works mentioned in its rich bibliography. While this might appear as a weakness, Gun Curious is intended as a digestible attempt at mapping a new disciplinary field and current narratives for a wide audience – a mission it successfully accomplishes.
One could argue that the book’s relevance is limited to the unique US historical and social context, which facilitates both gun ownership and the possibility of violence. However, Europe and the UK host similar subcultures through their competition circuits, gaming and hunting practices in which one can find many narratives imported from US culture. Lastly, while firearms have been associated with conservatism, racism and misogyny, Yamane lifts the curtain on the changing demographics of gun owners, which include more liberal-leaning people and organisations from marginalised backgrounds, of various ethnicities and gender identities.
Thanks to its storytelling and rigorous examination of data, Gun Curious is a solid foundation for readers wanting to dive into the American psyche, its diversity and its contradictions. I would be eager to see the author undertaking deeper research across the different sub-communities and online subcultures, to understand how race, class, beliefs, political and sexual orientation play into these dynamics.
